Artificial intelligence helps rebuild the Cimabue Cathedral, which was destroyed by earthquakes – Art Newspaper

Experts are using artificial intelligence to help reassemble a priceless fresco painted by Renaissance artist Cimabue, which was reduced into tens of thousands of parts when earthquakes destroyed a 13th-century cathedral in central Italy nearly 30 years ago. The project has revived hopes for the full restoration of the masterpiece, which the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, praised as a symbol of national pride.

The Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was severely damaged when two powerful 5.7- and 6.0-magnitude earthquakes struck in quick succession in 1997, killing four people and damaging a group of frescoes by Giotto depicting the life of St. Francis. Among the most influential works was Cimabue's fresco adorning a vaulted ceiling, consisting of four curved triangular sections, each depicting one of the Evangelists – Saints John, Luke, Matthew and Mark – against architectural scenes bearing the names of Asia, Greece, Judea and Italy (here written in the archaic form of 'italia').

“Centuries before national unity, an Italian painter represented our homeland in this way, with the inscription ‘YTALIA,’” Meloni wrote on Facebook in 2019, three years before she became prime minister.

Three of the four sections, those depicting Saints John, Luke and Mark, were broken into relatively large pieces but can be largely reconstructed, allowing restorers to piece them back together again. The fourth section, which represents Saint Matthew, collapsed completely, leaving a large hole in the vault, and disintegrated into about 120,000 small pieces. Each part has been carefully collected, scanned and catalogued. Now a curved panel in neutral colors fills the ceiling space, with only about 30 pieces later reattached.

Now, a joint project headed by Perugia's Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, which has formally worked with the church's guardians over the past decade, and the University of Perugia's engineering department, aims to determine whether artificial intelligence can help rebuild the devastated department.

Work from photo

The team, which includes officials from Soprintendenza, the environmental conservation wing of the Ministry of Culture, is also working from a high-resolution photo of the ceiling taken shortly before the 1997 earthquake. “The idea is to see if we can somehow find a way to put that huge amount of pieces together based on their shape and color,” Costantino Dorazio, director of the Galleria Nazionale del Umbria, tells the art newspaper.

According to Dorazio, the idea originated with Culture Minister Alessandro Gioli, an ally of Meloni, during a visit to the cathedral in June. About 15 employees from the three institutions are now conducting a feasibility study that Dorazio says should last at least six months. He notes that it is too early to say whether existing AI tools can be adapted for the task or whether custom technology will be needed. He says the cathedral's restorers will ultimately be responsible for rebuilding the work.

Meanwhile, Galleria Nazionale collaborated with Ikari, an architectural photography company based in Florence, to create a video projection that digitally reconstructs the missing portion on the neutral canvas. Of the €5,000 for the project, Dorazio says, it was spent mainly on renting projection equipment installed in the right wing of the church.

Stefano Giannetti, co-founder of Ikare, explains that the display was created using a 3D rendering created from a pre-earthquake image. He says it was a very complex project because experts had to determine the exact location from which the photo was taken, analyze the curvature of the vault in the design of the display, and integrate the display with the surviving colored parts of the vault. “To get a consistent result, I had to turn the colors off and on for a long series of tests,” he says. “We did not aim for simple lighting effects, but rather to restore the feeling of the mural as a whole, in the name of cultural heritage.”

What Are The Main Benefits Of Comparing Car Insurance Quotes Online

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 24, 2020, / Compare-autoinsurance.Org has launched a new blog post that presents the main benefits of comparing multiple car insurance quotes. For more info and free online quotes, please visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/the-advantages-of-comparing-prices-with-car-insurance-quotes-online/ The modern society has numerous technological advantages. One important advantage is the speed at which information is sent and received. With the help of the internet, the shopping habits of many persons have drastically changed. The car insurance industry hasn't remained untouched by these changes. On the internet, drivers can compare insurance prices and find out which sellers have the best offers. View photos The advantages of comparing online car insurance quotes are the following: Online quotes can be obtained from anywhere and at any time. Unlike physical insurance agencies, websites don't have a specific schedule and they are available at any time. Drivers that have busy working schedules, can compare quotes from anywhere and at any time, even at midnight. Multiple choices. Almost all insurance providers, no matter if they are well-known brands or just local insurers, have an online presence. Online quotes will allow policyholders the chance to discover multiple insurance companies and check their prices. Drivers are no longer required to get quotes from just a few known insurance companies. Also, local and regional insurers can provide lower insurance rates for the same services. Accurate insurance estimates. Online quotes can only be accurate if the customers provide accurate and real info about their car models and driving history. Lying about past driving incidents can make the price estimates to be lower, but when dealing with an insurance company lying to them is useless. Usually, insurance companies will do research about a potential customer before granting him coverage. Online quotes can be sorted easily. Although drivers are recommended to not choose a policy just based on its price, drivers can easily sort quotes by insurance price. Using brokerage websites will allow drivers to get quotes from multiple insurers, thus making the comparison faster and easier. For additional info, money-saving tips, and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ Compare-autoinsurance.Org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. "Online quotes can easily help drivers obtain better car insurance deals. All they have to do is to complete an online form with accurate and real info, then compare prices", said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. CONTACT: Company Name: Internet Marketing CompanyPerson for contact Name: Gurgu CPhone Number: (818) 359-3898Email: [email protected]: https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ SOURCE: Compare-autoinsurance.Org View source version on accesswire.Com:https://www.Accesswire.Com/595055/What-Are-The-Main-Benefits-Of-Comparing-Car-Insurance-Quotes-Online View photos